My Story
by TinyTuxedoKitty
Summary: Bree, a 16 year old Nord escapes the Helgen Dragon attack. She journeys around the vast lands of Skyrim wanting a fresh start on her life.
1. Escape

My eyes open and I feel a throbbing at the back of my skull. The last thing I remeber was crossing the border into Skyrim and being ambushed by an Imperial patrol. I look around at the other three people in the cart. Three Nords, all bound and the Nord next to me is gagged. The blonde Nord across from me is the first to speak.

"Look, the lass is finally awake." he pointed out to the other Nords. "I'm Ralof of Riverwood. How about you?"

"I'm Bree of Riften." I replied firmly, trying to keep my voice from showing how scared I really felt.

Ralof nodded. "You look a little to young too be a Stormcloak rebel. I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like us," He gestured at the man next to me. "And this horse thief right here." He then nodded to the scrawny brown haired man next to him. I sighed. He was right, I was only 16 and I barely cared let alone knew much about the hatred between the Imperials and Stormcloaks. One of the soldiers looked back and shouted for us to keep quiet. Me and Ralof smirked.

The horse thief looked at me. "Bree, me and you shouldn't be here. It's theese stormcloak rebels they really want." I looked down at my hands, which were bound and set in my lap.

"Were all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief" Ralof hissed.

The horse theif then looked at the man next to me. "And what's wrong with him, huh?" The theif asked.

Ralof looked to the horse theif and snapped, "Watch your tongue. Your speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king!" Ulfric Stormcloak. My heart skipped a beat. Everything my father said about him flashed through my head. I remeber how my father told me how dangerous he was. How he commited murder for power over Skyrim. I felt dizzy.

Panic-stricken the theif started to whine. "Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you... Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." Ralof stated, his voice strong as ever.

The theif hung his head over his lap and cried out, "No, this can't be happening! This isn't happening!"

My voice srained as I tried to comfort him. "It's ok. Be brave, the Imperials will see your scared and then your death will be more enjoyable for them." He looked up and nodded.

Ralof smiled at me, then turned back to the theif. "Where are you from horse theif? A Nords last thoughts should be of home."

"Rorikstead... I'm from Rorikstead." The theif replied. I closed my eyes and though of my home. Mom cooking stew over the fire and dad taking me hunting for deer and elk. Our house that sat over the water. The only house that had a really good view of Riften. Suddenly I felt the cart lurch to a stop and I looked around. The imperial guards shouted for us to get out of the cart immediatly. We all stood and hopped from the cart, I stood close to Ralof. He was the only one at that time that made me feel safe. I looked at the Nord who was calling names.

He looked at me for a second then looked back to the list. "Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm." His voice firm and demanding. The man in the binds and gag stepped formard and two imperial guards flanked him, leading him to the execution area.

The Nord called out again. "Lokir of Rorikstead."

Lokir's eyes went wide and he breathed in deeply. "I'm not a rebel, you can do this!" He hesitates for a second, then runs.

I hear someone shout, "Archers!" I see one Imperial guard take a bow and draw an arrow. He lets the arrow fly and it hits Lokir right in the back of the neck, where his skull meets his spinal cord, killing him instantly. I shudder and Ralof nudges me with his elbow as he walks toward the execution block. I didn't even hear them call his name.

The Nord who was calling names looks at me. "Captain, she's not on the list." He states.

The Captain shouts at him. "Does it look like I care Hadvar? She goes on to the block!"

Hadvar looks at me sympatheticaly. "I'm sorry, but at least you will die in your homeland." Hardvar motions for me to follow the Captain. As I walk to the execution block I see Ralof watching me. I nod to him and look forward. The Captain has one of the prisoners on the ground leaning forward, his head over the basket. The executioner raises his axe. I turn my head and look at Ralof. He is emotionless. I head the man scream and I flinch. Ralof looks at me and weakly smiles.

"I SAID NEXT PRISONER!" I hear the Captain shout. Before I can do anything, there are two Imperials grabbing my arms, one on either side. Ralof stares, his eyes hard. He mouths to me 'Be Brave.' I nod and let the guards force me down onto my knees in front of the exacutioner. The Captain forces me, with my head above the basket, lower so the executioner can swing. I look up at the executioner and wait for him to swing. He raises his axe and I hear someone behind me take a deep breath. What seems like minutes later, something odd happens. I see a dragon appear from behind the mountains and it lands on the tower behind the executioner and he drops his axe. Immediately I jump up and turn to Ralof.

"Bree, this way!" I hear him call out to me and I run after him. We disappear into a tower. Ralof herds me up the stairs to a gaping hole in the side of the tower.

"Jump to the inn across the way, and make your way to the keep." Ralof orders me. I feel him push me from the tower and I gasp. I stumble and land on the second floor of the inn. I see Hadvar below and I make my way to him.

"Hadvar!" I shout. He looks at me and grabs my arm, then throws me behind a house. Before I can say anything the dragon lands on the inn where I was just standing. He looks at me.

"Are you okay prisoner? Keep with me if you want to stay that way." I nod breathlessly. He just saved my life from the dragon. I follow him to all the way to the keep, doging the dragon multiple times. Ralof appears from behind a wall and runs up to me.

Hadvar stares daggers at him. "Ralof you damn traitor. Stay out of our way." Hadvar takes a menacing step towards Ralof.

"I'm escaping Hadvar, you can't stop me this time." Ralof sneers as he pushes past me. I can hear him under his breath as he growls "I should have known you would choose the Imperials side, Bree." I shout at Ralof, to keep him from going. He doesn't seem to mind as he enters the keep.

I sniff sadly, "Wait... Ralof..."

Hadvar grabs my arm and sneers in the direction Ralof went. "He doesn't matter Bree. We need to get going." He takes my arm and leads me into the keep through a different entrance.


	2. The Keep

When me and Hadvar enter the keep, he cuts the binds from my wrists and hands me a sword that he found propped against the wall. I swing the sword a few times. It feels light in my hands. Nine pounds maybe? Hadvar watches me use the sword and teaches me a few basic things like blocking and the proper way to swing a sword.

He walks to a gate and bangs his fist on it. "Damn it's locked." He mutters. "We need a key." We look around the room until I find the key on a table. Hadvar pushes the key into the lock and it clicks unlocked. The gate opens. We slowly walk to the next room. When we arrive we see two people hunched over in the corner and a dead body on the side of the room.

Hadvar looks at me, "Stormcloaks." He points out. "You can tell by the armor they are wearing." One of the Stormcloaks look over and stands up facing us, the other does the same. Fow a moment we are all staring at each other.

Hadvar breaks the silence. "We are not here to hurt you, but there's a dragon attacking Helgen a-," He's inturupted by one of the Stormcloaks who lets out a screech and lunges at Hadvar, slicing his sword wildly. The other Stormcloak looks at me and grins then takes a step forward, pulling out his sword.

I draw mine. "Come any closer and your dead meat." I growl. He doesn't listen. He slashes his sword at me and I block like Hadvar taught me. I can still hear Hadvar and the other Stormcloak fighting. I feel the Stormcloak putting his weight onto his sword, trying to disarm me. So he can kill me. Holding onto my sword tightly I jump back. He loses his balance and stumbles forward. His arms fling outwards. Without thinking I dash forward and stab him, right in the stomach. I feel the metal connect with his soft flesh. He cries out in agony. I let go of the sword, my eyes wide but it stays stuck in his stomach.

Hadvar grabs my arm and pulls me from the room. "Good job, but we need to get going." He says to me. I nod blankly and feel the weight of another sword being pressed into my hands. "Keep this one Bree, we don't have enough swords for every person your going kill." He teases. As we leave the room I look back. The man whom I stabbed isn't quite dead, he's twitching and moaning. I turn away and follow Hadvar down a dark hallway. It has a door to the left and I hear people down the hallway talking. I start to walk down the hall.

Hadvar doesn't follow, but instead rests his hand on the doorknob. "We should go get supplies from Torturer and his assisant." I reluctanly follow him through the door. After walking down a dimly lit corridor for a few minutes we arrive at another door. I listen and hear screams of agony, anguish and fear. Hadvar calmly opens the door and walks through. I look around seeing cages, some holding people and bodies piled up in the center of the room.

An old man, wearing armor and a hood that covers most of his face grins. "It's about time you showed up Hadvar. And who's this?" He questions. "Another Stormcloak for me?" For the first time since I woke in the prisoner cart, I realized I was wearing rags.

"This is Bree, she's with me." Hadvar stated. "I was wondering if you had anything to spare?" Hadvar then motioned to a wall with a rack of weapons.

Torturer sneered. "Those are mine. I take them from any Stormcloaks that come through here." I saw a burly man come around the corner, a body slumped over his shoulder. He heaved the body into the pile with very little effort. He must be the Torturers Assistant.  
Torturers Assistant looked at me and Hadvor. "Don't mind the old man. Take whatever you need." He said. Hadvor crossed the room to the weapons and took a daggar, a bow, a sheath of about 12 arrows and a sword in a sheath that he hung around his hips. I looked over at Torturer, he was fuming.

"Hadvar I think we need to go. I want to get out of Helgen as soon as I can, the thought of that dragon is scaring me." I said.

Torturer and his assistant look at me. "Dragon?" I heard Torturer's raspy voice turn to a laugh. "Dragons are just myths!"

Torturers Assisant shook his head. "Let that loon die down here. I'll go with you two." Hadvar nodded and we all left the room.

I heard Torturers cackle before we left. "There's no way out, you'll all suffer a horrible fate down there!" We ignored him. We trudged on through room after room until we arrived where the keep burrowed underground into a cave.

Torturers Assistant shook his head. "Maybe Torturer was right," He sighed. "Maybe there isn't a way out."

Hadvar looked back at Torturers assistant. "We haven't even gone that far, let's at least look!" We make our way through streams and various cave plants untill we reach a large opening. I see giant webs everywhere and egg sacs are scattered around the room. As we make our way through the room I hear Torturers assistant scream. I turn around and gasp. Torturers assistants body lays on the ground, his abdomen torn open with blood everywhere. Two Frostbite spiders, twice our size creep toward us.

I draw my sword slowly and Hadvar grimaces, "Frostbite Spiders. Disgusting." He runs at a spider and slashes at it's legs. The other spider continues to creep closer, and closer. I hold my sword in front of me, getting ready. I raise my sword and just as I'm about to kill the spider, it shoots a ball of web at me, I duck losing my sword to the web in the process. Damn it. I back away from the spider trying not to make to much movement because I know movement will agravate it. The spider raises up and a bubbling sound comes from it's throat. It falls, dead. I see Hadvar standing behind the now dead spider. I sigh, relived.

"Let's go." Hadvar nods to the other end of the room. As we walk from the room, he hands me the dagger he took from Torturers dungeon. We walk through a maze of caverns for whet seems like hours before we see the light of outside. We finally made it to the exit. I tear up and smile. Finally we can leave this horrid place. I hear Hadvar shout and see a figure running towards me. Is that... Ralof?

"Ralof!"I say happily. He doesn't stop running towards me though. I see the gleam of metal in his hand. My eyes get wide as I feel the cold metal slice across my shoulder, down my arm.

Ralof stares at me, his eyes hard and unforgiving. "Bree, I can't let you leave alive. The Imperials don't need anymore soliders." Before I can say anything he raises his sword, about to swing. I reach for the dagger Hadvar gave me after we fought the frostbite spiders and I blindly slash at Ralof. I hear him grunt and his sword fall to the ground. I look up to see him grinning madly, blood dripping from his hand. He pulls a dagger and stares at me. I close my eyes and picture him, before he snapped. How nice he was, how he comforted me. I miss the old him. SNAP. I hear a familiar sound. An arrow flying from a bow string. Like from when Lokir got killed. I open my eyes to see Ralof's wide eyes. He falls to his knees and I see the color fade from his blue eyes. He's dead.

"Are you okay Bree?" Hadvar's voice snaps me back to reality. He holds his hand out and helps me up. "Let's go. Riverwood is just down the way. We can rest up there." I lean on his shoulder as he leads me to Riverwood. Ralof's hometown.


	3. Riverwood

As we reach Riverwood I see the townsfolk staring. I can tell why, we are both covered in dirt, grime and blood. I hear people whispering, but I don't care.

"Hadvar!" I hear a female shout. She runs up and embraces him. She steps back and inspects us. "You two look like you can use food, clothes and a swim in the river."

She takes his hand and leads him off. I follow. We walk into the Riverwood town gate and over to a large cabin. She holds the door open and ushers us inside. I see a little girl sitting on a bed playing with dolls and a man sitting at a table eating.

Hadvar turns to me, "Bree this is my aunt Sigrid, uncle Alvor," He motions to the woman who met us at the town gate and the man at the table. "and my cousin Dorthe." He motions to the girl on the bed who is now staring at us.

Sigrid grabs my injured arm and I wince, "Oh my, I'm sorry." She lets go of my arm. "Let's go get you something to wear shall we?" I follow her downstairs and to a dresser in the corner of the room. She opens the dresser and hands me a white shirt and gray pants.

"Thank you Sigrid." I smile at her, and she smiles back.

"Are you hungry?" She asks, "Change and come back up to eat when your done." She walks up the stairs. I strip off the rags, down to my underwear and put the clothes Sigrid gave me on.

As I walk back up stairs I can hear Alvor. "Dragon? Are you sure you not drunk, boy?"

"No even ask Bree, she saw it too!" Hadvar says.

Dorthe has moved from the bed and now sits next to Hadvar, her eyes wide. "Hadvar, was the dragon big?" She asked. "Did it breathe fire?"

"Hush Dorthe and help me with the food." Sigrid scolds Dorthe. Dorthe hops up to help her mom and I take her seat next to Hadvar. After Sigrid and Dorthe pass out the food, Alvor thanks the gods. We enjoy a hearty meal of venison, potatoes, cabbage and afterwards we eat sweet rolls while Alvor and Hadvar drink ale. Sigrid shows me where I will be sleeping and I lay down, closing my eyes I drift off to sleep. I wake up and look out the window. It's dark and the moon is shining. I stand up and walk to the door, quietly I open it and step out. I walk down to the river, which is right behind Alvor and Sigrid's house. I strip down to my underwear and jump into the river from a rock.

As I surface I see Hadvar standing at the waters edge watching me. "Hadvar!"

He smirks and walks into the river. "It's nice out tonight, huh?"

I swim deeper, so he doesn't see my body. "Yeah I guess."

He looks at me. "Tomorrow you should go to the Riverwood trader and get some armor. I'll give you some gold pieces. You'll need protection before you head off to Whiterun." He looks up at the sky. "Assuming your that's what your going to do."

I nod "Yeah. I was going to, I want to start my life over. Whiterun seems like a good place to do it." He nods, I can tell he is sad because of my desicion to leave. I motion for him to turn around. When he does I qucikly swim to the shore and thorw on my clothes. We walk back to the house together. I lay down on the bed and he sits on the end of the bed, next to my feet. I fall asleep. Hadvar wakes me in the morning and takes me to Riverwood Trader across the street. Hadvar buys me armor a knapsack and some food. He stuff the food into the knapsack and I follow the traders sister upstairs, where she lets me put my armor on. It's a type of light hide armor. I walk back downstairs and Hadvar escorts me out of the shop and to the edge of town.

He looks at me for a second before pulling me into a big hug. "Bye Bree, I'll miss you."

I rest my chin on his shoulder. "If I join the Imperial army, I'll get to see you right?"

He pulls away from my hug and nods. As I cross the bridge to head off to Whiterun he shouts after me, telling me to stay safe.


	4. Welcome To Whiterun

I follow the trail from Riverwood to Whiterun, hoping to make it before dark. Maybe I'll find an inn to stay at. All I know is that when I get there I will warn the Jarl of the dragon attack at Helgen. I get lost in my thought as I walk to Whiterun. I hear a rustling in the bushes behind me so I turn around. My mistake. I find myself staring into the eyes of a ravenous wild wolf. Armed with only a dagger, I start to panic. Is the journey I just begun already over? I pull the dagger and point it at the wolf. It jumps at me and I slash at it's face, the blade connecting with the wolfs nose. It growls and lunges forward again. I jump back and throw the dagger. I hear a sickening 'THUNK' noise as the dagger sticks into it's forehead. Retriving my dagger I start to run towards Whiterun. I see the large castle like walls surronding the large city.

"Wow..." I breathlessly sigh. This city was much larger than Riften. The sun was setting in the sky, making everything seem to have a peculiar orange glow. I arrived at a farm and saw a woman drawing a bow and pointing it staright at me. The man stood next to her drawing his sword.

She drew an arrow across the bow string "Duck." I looked at her for a second. "DUCK NOW!" I ducked as the arrow whizzed right above my head. I turned to see what it hit. A giant who was maybe 100 feet behind me, roared and plucked the arrow from it's eye. A trickle of blood ran down it's face. I drew out my dagger and ran back to the woman and the man. The man laughed when he saw my dagger and he ran forward slashing at the giant. It roared and kicked him. He flew back and crashed into a large pile of hay, his sword impaling itself in the ground a few feet infront of us. I grabbed the sword and rushed the giant, slashing as high as I could reach. I heard the woman's arrows flying from her bow in a sort of rhythmic pace. SNAP...SNAP...SNAP...SNAP...SNAP... As she fired the last shot the giant fell to the ground groaning. I ran up and gave it one last slash to the neck before it landed.

She placed her bow, slung across her sholders. "Your brave for one so young. What's your name?"

I looked at her. "Bree. My name is Bree." I state. "What's yours?"

"Everyone around here calls me Aela the Huntress. I am a member of the Companions." She states proudly.

I look at her, puzzled. "Companions?"

"The Companions are a group of the strongest and bravest warriors in skyrim. You may want to consider joining. You looked fearless out there, facing that giant." She smiled. "That is if your not scared." She started to walk toward Whiterun's gates.

I hesitate "What about your friend over there?" I ask.

She turns to me and smiles. "Brill? He'll survive." I look over to were Brill lays. He moans and the hay shuffles as he moves around, regaining conciousness. I follow Aela up to the gates. As she enters, the guards stop me.

"Who are you and what reason do you come here?" One of the guards asks. His voice muffled by his helmet.

I look at him. "My name is Bree. I am here to warn the Jarl of a dragon." The guard nods and I enter Whiterun. I look around. It's a bigger city than I imagined. I walk along the road, stopping to ask a few people the way to the Jarl's quarters. They point the way out to me and as I walk I pass a building. I see Aela talking to a man with Brown hair.

She sees me and grins. "Bree come here! I want you to meet Farkas!" She points to the man next to her. "He agreed to show you the ways of the companions, that is if you decide to join." Farkas shakes my hand warmly, but he doesn't say a word. I tell Aela that I'm going to see the Jarl and that I'll be back soon. As I ascend the steps to the Jarl's quarters. I look down at Whiterun. The streets are quiet and guards are lighting torches. As I climb higher and they march around the city, it reminds me of the lightning bugs me and my parents used to catch. I arrive at the big doors and I twist the handle. I walk inside admiring everything. From the polished tile floors, to the carved posts holding the giant buling upright. I walk forward and climb a few more steps before I see the Jarl.  
He looks over at me and gives a great big smile. "Welcome to Whiterun!" He strides over and gives me a firm handshake. Everything about him says pride.

I return his handshake. "Jarl Balgruuf, I have news about the Helgen Dragon attack."  
He nods. "Okay." He says as he walks over to his throne. He lowers himself into the throne and looks up at me. "Tell me."

I start my story from the beginning. Everything that has happened since I woke on the prisoner cart. I tell him that as we left the keep that we saw the dragon fly towards Riverwood; towards here.

He nods. "I will send troops to Riverwood right away. I cannot have the people in my Hold suffer." His eyes meet mine. "You may leave now." I nod and walk through the front doors. As I reach the bottom of the steps I walk towards where I saw Aela and Farkas talking. I open the doors and everyone turns their heads to me. I can tell right away that many of them are drunk. I scan the room and see Aela, Farkas and another man sitting at a table, they are laughing and drinking ale. I start to make my way over to them, when I'm suddenly pressed against a wall by one of the drunk men. I smell the liquor on his breath and I scowl in disgust.

He traps me against the wall and looks at me. "Such a pretty face. Would be a shame if anything happened to it..." He says meanicingly. "He leans in closer and stares me in the eyes. "Get out of here little girl. Your not good enough for the Companians." I shudder as he blows on me with his liquor ridden breath. I push against his chest, trying to get him aways from me. He grabs my wrist and smiles. i see a finger tap on his shoulder. He turns around and I recognize Farkas behind him. I see Farkas swing his fist at the man. I hear the crack of the mans nose. He immediately lets go of my wrist and brings his hand up to his face.

Farkas looks at me. "Are you okay, Bree?" I nod and let him lead me to Aela.

Aela smiles at me. "Hey there, whelp." I look at her questioningly. She looks down at her cup. "I kind of told Kodlac that you were joining. So welcome to the companions!"


End file.
